D.B. Root & Company LLC Sells 593 Shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY)

D.B. Root & Company LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Sysco Co. (NYSE:SYY) by 8.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,421 shares of the company’s stock after selling 593 shares during the quarter. D.B. Root & Company LLC’s holdings in Sysco were worth $491,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SYY. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sysco by 1,240.0% in the third quarter. Armstrong Advisory Group Inc. now owns 335 shares of the company’s stock valued at $26,000 after purchasing an additional 310 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in Sysco in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Valley Wealth Managers Inc. acquired a new position in Sysco in the 3rd quarter valued at about $31,000. Focused Wealth Management Inc acquired a new stake in Sysco during the third quarter worth approximately $37,000. Finally, Canoe Financial LP bought a new stake in shares of Sysco during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. 83.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sysco

In related news, Director Sheila Talton sold 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, November 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.63, for a total value of $216,427.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 12,955 shares in the company, valued at $966,831.65. This represents a 18.29 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Eve M. Mcfadden sold 6,499 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, December 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $519,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 48,451 shares in the company, valued at $3,876,080. This trade represents a 11.83 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 83,306 shares of company stock worth $6,485,050. 0.54% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SYY. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Sysco from $87.00 to $82.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Melius Research raised shares of Sysco to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Sysco from $82.00 to $79.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Sysco from $91.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, December 16th. Finally, Melius initiated coverage on shares of Sysco in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. They set a “hold” rating and a $85.00 target price on the stock. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eleven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.79.

Sysco Stock Performance

NYSE:SYY opened at $73.41 on Thursday. Sysco Co. has a twelve month low of $69.03 and a twelve month high of $82.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.73, a current ratio of 1.26 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 5.38. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $76.48 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $36.06 billion, a PE ratio of 18.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.05 and a beta of 1.18.

Sysco (NYSE:SYY) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The company reported $1.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.13 by ($0.04). Sysco had a net margin of 2.44% and a return on equity of 101.04%. The company had revenue of $20.48 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $20.47 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.07 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Sysco Co. will post 4.57 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sysco Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 24th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 3rd will be issued a $0.51 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $2.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. Sysco’s payout ratio is presently 52.44%.

Sysco Company Profile

Sysco Corporation, through its subsidiaries, engages in the marketing and distribution of various food and related products to the foodservice or food-away-from-home industry in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and internationally. It operates through U.S. Foodservice Operations, International Foodservice Operations, SYGMA, and Other segments.